Canopy

3rd May, Sunday

Omelette with ham and cheese


The omelette was not bad, without excessive ingredients inside. The cheese was added in the right proportions too, so the omelette wasn't too thick and filling. The ham wasn't really salty though, so I had to add some salt. $13

V's verdict: 7/10


Bacon and chipolata sausages


A side order; the bacon and sausages cost $3 each. The sausages were quite juicy and tasted strongly of herbs. I thought the bacon would be streaky bacon, but it was back bacon, which was supposedly more expensive and of better quality. True enough, it was juicy and not too salty. $3 + $3

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Serangoon Garden Market

2nd May, Saturday

Fried carrot cake (Hock Kee Fried Oyster)



The first time I ordered this was out of sympathy --- this stall had just opened (I think in 2007?) and didn't have many customers. But I was pleasantly surprised. The carrot cake is tasty, a bit crispy and yet not too oily, and the service was also good (much better than the other stall selling carrot cake, I think it's called Ang Sar Li). Will order their white carrot cake and post it in a future entry.

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Chwee kueh (Stall 22)

From the only stall that specialises in chwee kueh. Located opposite the Garden Street kway chiap. My goodness, it tasted horrible. It's definitely the worst chwee kueh I have ever tasted in my life, and it doesn't help that I just had the famous Tiong Bahru chwee kueh 2 days ago for breakfast. The kueh was stale and tasteless, and the toppings were also stale.

V's verdict: 2.5/10
K's verdict: 1/10 (she loves chwee kueh a lot, so she's very disappointed)

Crystal Jade Kitchen

1st May, Friday

Had dinner at the Ngee Ann City outlet. We didn't really order anything fanciful today. Things to note are, they charge plain water at $0.30 a glass, and also charge you if you eat their pickles/peanuts etc. I don't really approve of such practices --- putting the snacks under your nose and charging you if you eat them, without informing you beforehand.


明火白粥



My favourite plain porridge. Although it's plain, it's very thick and tasty --- I think it was cooked using scallops? I never fail to order this whenever I visit Crystal Jade Kitchen. Today's was a bit less tasty, but it was still good nevertheless. K loved it! $1.80

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 8.5/10


Pig liver noodle (dry)



One very important thing about cooking pig liver --- it cannot be overcooked, or it is ruined. For this dish, the texture and the doneness seemed to be contradicting, because it wasn't overcooked, and yet it was a bit tough.

The noodles were decent, though their chilli was fantastic. In fact, I ordered this mainly to eat it with their chilli. One thing Crystal Jade definitely wins over Din Tai Fung is this chilli --- Din Tai Fung doesn't come close. Not even a little bit. $7

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Roast duck noodle (dry)



Crystal Jade's roast duck is usually quite good, but I found today's to be a bit disappointing, mainly because it was dry. $7.80

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 6/10

Beppu Menkan (别府)

30th April, Thursday

Oniyama Jigoku



The outlet at at Cross St, China Square Central. They allow you to choose the number of chillies -- 1/2/4/6/8, I think. I tried up to 4 before. It's spicy, but anything above that is pointless -- the chilli flavour will overwhelm any other soup flavour. My mouth can take the spiciness, but my stomach can't; I usually end up with diarrhea after eating it.

I think this dish will be heavily skewed towards people who love spicy food, like me. The fried chicken is usually good and juicy, though today's was a little on the dry side. $9.30

V's verdict: 7/10


Mayonnaise prawn

Frying is probably one of the easiest way to make food tasty, simply because it masks the flavour. So even food that is not fresh tastes decent after frying. But this dish was definitely a thumbs down. It is dry and yet not crispy. The prawn was also quite tough. I suspect that it had been re-fried. $5.80

V's verdict: 2.5/10


Agedashi tofu

Tasted quite bad, but still less bad than the mayonnaise prawn. $3.60

V's verdict: 4.5/10


Salmon cheese fry

The salmon tasted fishy and stale; they probably chose their stalest salmon for this dish! The cheese managed to hide a bit of the staleness, but... just a bit. $3.65

V's verdict: 4/10

Hong Lim Food Centre, Aglio Olio

29th April, Wednesday

Hong Lim Food Centre:

Laksa (Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa)

Forgot to take a picture of this, damn it. Anyway, this stall is on the 2nd floor. The laksa tastes way lighter than other laksa. It may be good for those who don't like their laksa to be too thick and filling, but it didn't really suit my tastebuds. I prefer my laksa to be thick and tasty. K gave it a total thumbs down. Maybe it's because I didn't add the chilli? But the chilli tasted sour, so I didn't dare to put any of it into the soup.

But the service was good; the stallkeeper was friendly and even apologized that she had a lot of orders to prepare first for the previous customer. I will consider ordering their mee siam next time. $2.50/$3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 2/10


Chicken rice (Boon Tiong Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice)

Also located on the 2nd floor. Okay, I found the name quite amusing. It's obviously a lame attempt at confusing people with Boon Tong Kee. K found it decent, but I didn't like it. The meat wasn't tender enough, and the chicken flavour wasn't strong enough. The rice tasted a bit... weird too, I dunno how to describe it.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 6.5/10


Curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee)



From the famous stall on the ground floor. They claim to be the "one and only stall" in Singapore, and I believe that they are the original, since all the other curry chicken noodles I have tried elsewhere don't even come close to their standard. Everytime I go there, I queue for at least 15 minutes and always order the biggest bowl ($6, to justify my queueing time). Their chilli was also fantastic, though a bit on the salty side, so take care not to add too much into the noodles. I added too much before and ruined my whole bowl.

The chicken they use puts some restaurants or stalls specialising in chicken to shame. I don't know where they get their chicken from, but it was so tender and sweet! Finally, if you don't like your food to be too oily, tell the uncle not to add oil into your noodles. Part of the cooking process is that he scoops some curry oil and pours it over the noodles! $4/$5/$6

V's verdict: 9.5/10
K's verdict: 9/10


Aglio Olio:



Soup

The soup was honestly quite lousy. In fact, I think Campbell soup tastes better. At least the prices were reasonable --- $2.20 for soup and lemonade.

V's verdict: 3/10
K's verdict: 3/10


Garlic bread

Not too good, but not too bad either. $2.90

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Sotong Olio



Ok, my main dish saved the day. I ordered spicy -- 3 chillies out of the maximum 4 --- and it was not bad. The sotong was fresh and tender too. The reason why it didn't get a higher rating is because aglio olio style isn't really my favourite. $10.90

V's verdict: 7/10


Cream Bacon Olio



This was done very well! The bacon wasn't too fat, and the cream was delicious and in the right amounts. K loved this dish so much that she gave it full marks! $10.90

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 10/10

Canopy

26th April, Sunday

Located at Bishan Park. My uncle is actually the one of the owners, and it's one of the few places in Singapore where people can bring their dogs to without worrying whether it is legal or not.

Lobster bisque



Excellent! The soup was thick and full of flavour, with small chunks of lobster inside. $11

V's verdict: 8.5/10
K's verdict: 9/10


New Zealand Green Shell Mussels



The mussels itself didn't taste too good, but their sauce --- a tomato cream sauce --- managed to make up for it. In fact, the sauce was so good that I finished up almost all of it. My father didn't really like the sauce, though. $14

V's verdict: 7/10


Australian Beef Ribeye



This was quite all right. I ordered medium rare, but I think it came out as medium. Couldn't verify it by sight as we were sitting outside and it was too dark. Served with mashed potatoes and asparagus and topped with a thick gravy. $28

V's verdict: 7/10


Canopy's Gourmet Beef Burger



My mother ordered this and was quite pleased with it. The beef patty was juicy, the bread was a bit crisp, and the fries were freshly fried and tasted good. My only sore point is that it didn't come with bacon or cheese; an additional $3 was required. $15

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Orchard Cafe

25th April, Saturday

Located at Orchard Hotel, ground floor. The food has been pretty good consistently, but the last time I went with my parents, it was very disappointing. Tried it again with K today.



(Sorry for the lousy picture!)

Sashimi didn't taste as fresh as before. Their pork with mushrooms and sea cucumber was lousy, but their braised pork (in black gravy) was excellent, much better than the one we had at 一家村. Prawn mee was average only, laksa was all right. Their bbq meat corner was much better than last time, especially the chicken and beef. The lamb was too tough though.

They served pig innards too, and it tasted quite good, surprisingly! The drunken prawns were fresh, but the herbal soup tasted diluted compared to last time. Their ice cream, as usual, was half melted and tasted more like fudge.

I was using a discount card, so the buffet cost us $54 in total. Without the discount card, I wouldn't have come.

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 7/10

Serangoon Garden Market

25th April, Saturday

Pig organ soup (Soon Huat Pig's Organ Soup)



This stall is quite generous with its ingredients, with lots of pork, fatty meat, pig intestines etc. The soup tastes strongly of pickled vegetables without the overpowering smell of the pig innards, as they were washed clean. $3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 8.5/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Pig innards (Soon Huat Pig's Organ Soup)



I ordered intestines, tau pok, pig skin, and dried beancurd. I asked for a little bit of pig skin only, but they still gave me too much. =/ The gravy was delicious, and because the intestines were washed clean, they didn't smell and tasted great. The price is a bit on the steep side though; this plate alone costs $7.60.

V's verdict: 9/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Fishball noodles (Hao Hoe Siang Noodles Soup)



Another dish which I have been eating since I was small. Interestingly, it tastes better if you da bao --- there's more time for the noodles to immersed in the gravy and for the taste to settle in. I had it at the market today, and it didn't taste as good. $3

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 5/10


Fried hokkien mee (Stall 10)



From the stall right beside the side entrance. This is the wet kind with lots of gravy, so it may not suit some people's tastes. I would admit that my judgement is a bit biased, since I have been eating it since I was young, for around 20 years. Their standard isn't that consistent though, and depends largely on who fries the noodles. $3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 7.5/10

一家村 (Clifford Centre), Banquet (Clifford Centre)

24th April, Friday

一家村:



Lotus soup

One look at today's soup, and I knew it wouldn't be that good. It looked too pale and light, and true enough, it tasted diluted to me. But K seemed to like it and claimed that it tasted better than the one at Mei Xuan. Hmm...

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Porridge

Ordered braised pork with tau pok, beansprouts, and 梅菜. Nothing special to me, but K said the pork was quite good. She didn't really like the 梅菜, though.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10


Banquet:

幼面 (Handmade Noodles)



Not bad. I would have da bao-ed this for lunch more frequently if not for the fact that they charge an exorbitant $0.30 for take-away. Soup was tasty, noodles was all right. Pork tasted a bit weird and had too much fat, though.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Dumpling noodles (Handmade Noodles)



Tried it before but didn't like it, but K seemed to like it a lot (but can't give a reason why she likes it). This is the 3rd time she has eaten this, after all.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Men-Tei Japanese Noodles

23rd April, Thursday

Tonkatsu Ramen (面亭 - Men-Tei Japanese Noodles)



(oops, that's my finger at the top of the picture)

Located at Robinson Centre. (61 Robinson Road, #01-01). Reached there at 12pm and got the second last table. Within 5 more minutes, there was already a long queue outside.

The ramen was ok. The soup was quite good, having a good balance between tastiness and lightness. Of special mention should be their egg --- the japanese egg tamago, where the egg white is hard but the egg yolk is still soft. It is excellent, and they actually sell it as a separate side dish for $1.50 each. The pork was a bit disappointing though, since there's a bit of the "frozen taste", due to cooking meats without properly defrosting. But I could still bear it, as the frozen taste was quite mild.

Each bowl of ramen costs $13 along with a free flow of japanese green tea and ice water. No service charge or GST.

V's verdict: 7/10